Racks, storage shelves, brackets, trays, clips and other devices for the holding of entertainment media such as compact discs (CD), CD-ROMs, and cassette and video tapes are well known and widely available. They come in two general forms, one for horizontal use and the other for vertical use. The vertical racks offer the advantage of small space or footprint but suffer from the inability to allow easy insertion new media into a preferred location in the rack, such as alphabetical filing would require. That is, if a new media wants to be inserted in, say, the xe2x80x98Mxe2x80x9d section of the rack, often the entire rack below the insertion point must be rearranged to make that space available, each time new media is added.
For the horizontal rack, a large footprint requirement makes it less viable in space-squeezed shelving or entertainment equipment""s top surfaces.
Additionally, both varieties do not allow for downward-angled media retention as would be required for maximum-dense packing of the media on, for example, a rotating xe2x80x98Roladex(copyright)-typexe2x80x99 file system, or, for overhead storage/access.
The present invention overcomes these disadvantages. The rack of the present invention comprises at least four fixed stanchions facing each other. Stanchions are channel-shaped co-operatively secured at their upper and lower ends to parallel end plates or other fixturing means. The four stanchions may be located substantially cornerwise to each end plate, forming an open sided, closed ended, box-shaped structure. Front stanchions may parallel while rear stanchions may be better attached to end plates at corner positions, that is, at about 45xc2x0 to a centerline.
The front stanchion""s open sides face each other and have compressible elements secured therein, a portion of said compressible elements protruding past the stanchion into the open space between said stanchions. The compressible element may be an elastomeric foam, fiber mat, bristle, spring, tubing, rope or other material chosen for the purpose. A preferred material is zero compression set urethane foam. The end plate width dimension is slightly greater that the width of the media thereby holding stanchions also at that same distance. Because the compressible elements protrude, inserting media into rack forces their compression. This creates the desired side-holding force.
By selecting the amount by which the compressible elements protrude from the stanchions, adequate side-holding force is generated allowing inserting, and removing, and the sliding the media along the stanchions between end plates. The rear stanchions set at a 45xc2x0 angle and lined with compressible elements, provides a stop and additional support for the media.